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Study: Quakes spurred on faults dead for 300 million years

4:49 PM, Dec 1, 2017

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DALLAS (AP) -- A new university study has found that earthquakes registered recently in North Texas have occurred on faults awakened by human activity after they had lain dormant for at least 300 million years.

The study by Southern Methodist University researchers was published online last week in the journal Science Advances. The research supports recent assertions that the earthquakes were induced by human activity, not naturally.

The conclusion is apart from previous study results that correlated earth tremors to the timing of wastewater injection associated with the fracking process of oil and gas drilling. Nevertheless, the researchers say it corroborates those previous findings.

Texas, Oklahoma and other states have had earthquakes in recent years that scientists have linked to wastewater injection wells.